Desolation is available in bulk around much of Riggs Road, that stretch of two-lane highway south of Phoenix that cuts a path through the Gila Indian Reservation. Too long on a desolate road can do something to you. Objects start to look inconsequential and hollow. Polished cars become rushing blurs…
If Vic Chesnutt is the Faulkner of contemporary Southern music — brooding and gothic, with a strong thematic emphasis on the dark conflicts at work within the human soul — then Victoria Williams bids fair to be its Eudora Welty: at once optimistic and wistful, forgiving of human faults, both…
In mid-October, the big story in the Phoenix Latino community was Ernie Fernandez. Fernandez, 25, had been arrested in 1997 on one count of first-degree murder and one count of child abuse, both in connection with the death of his girlfriend’s two-year-old son, Ricky Robles. From the start, Fernandez insisted…
Gila County sheriff’s detective Tom Rasmussen is not pleased to receive my call. “You’re going to write about this and blow our cover totally up,” he complains. Yes, I am. Cover tends to disappear when you bust someone for Internet sex crimes, especially if that someone works in a state…
For the better part of two decades, Felicia Fahr was the Valley’s Queen of Queens, a flame-tressed temptress who ruled the local female impersonator circuit with stiletto heels, sequins, lethal talons and, as more than a few colleagues can attest, a tongue to match. Arriving in Phoenix from Los Angeles…
Arizona Common Cause — the local affiliate of the national watchdog organization — quietly closed its doors December 1. The abrupt end to the longtime Arizona grassroots lobby raises questions about who really made the decision to close Arizona Common Cause, and, given its lack of effectiveness in recent years,…
Customer Disservice Claim jumper: A brand-new J.D. Power and Associates National Auto Insurance Customer Satisfaction Survey shows State Farm among the top three U.S. auto insurers and the only major national insurer in the top three. This high policyholder satisfaction rating is consistent with the fact that more State Farm…
Chillin’The Flash and entourage are more than fashionably late in arriving at the autoMATIC art and performance space, which is located in an old warehouse at Ninth Avenue and Jackson. It’s a dark neighborhood teeming with dark characters. Ambient derelicts. They meander everywhere, in every direction, as if they have…
Karl Whitmire takes in strays. Cats, usually, but sometimes a dog. Once in a while, even a person. Billy Lyster was a stray of sorts — cute and sweet but not too quick, Karl remembers. And young. That was 13 years ago. Karl was 35, Billy 21. A friend asked…
A few hours after finding his wife dead in their Ahwatukee home, Brian Eftenoff sat down with a homicide detective. He appeared distraught over Judi’s death. “She was blue, like somebody beat the shit out of her,” Brian told homicide detective Joe Petrosino at the downtown Phoenix police station. “I…
Rosa Perez de Lopez is a housewife, mother and criminal alien. But these days, her kids are on their own with homework while she sits in Nogales, Sonora, thinking about the mistakes that led to her deportation.In April, four Immigration and Naturalization Service agents knocked on George and Rosa Lopez’s…
Abiding Faith Hide and seek: We, members of the Christian Faithful, apologize for the lateness of this communication. However, it does not lessen our appreciation of your coverage in New Times of the controversy involving Father Saúl Madrid, Bishop Thomas O’Brien and the Catholic community/Latino parishioners (“Immaculate Heart Break,” Gilbert…
“They misunderestimated me.” — George W. Bush, November 6, 2000The probable ascendancy of George W. Bush is incontrovertible proof that America loves a dolt. This does not mean that Dubya will be a bad president. It’s entirely possible that this great country desperately needs a dunderhead just now — someone…
Castle CashSmall wonders never cease. The Phoenix City Council actually took some initiative on Tuesday, overruling a committee of citizens and asking voters to spend bond money to acquire land around the venerable Tovrea Castle. Part of that acreage, held by a Tovrea family trust, is in escrow for sale…
The frantic call came at 5:36 a.m. on September 24, 1999. “Hurry, hurry! My wife is bruised everywhere! I don’t know what’s going on!” Brian Eftenoff shouted into the phone. A 911 operator listened as he pleaded with Judi, his 30-year-old wife and mother of their two young children. “Baby,…
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Broomfield leans out over the rail on the fourth-floor balcony of the new Sandra Day O’Connor Federal Courthouse in downtown Phoenix and points out the gridwork of a freshly sealed patch of glistening gray terrazzo floor. “That floor is different from every height. If you…
As peacekeeper of one of the most law-abiding towns in TV history, Sheriff Andy Taylor spent most of his time meddling in the affairs of the colorful townsfolk. Rarely did he have the need to throw the book at any bad guys.Instead, he threw the book at the citizens of…
Insure Thing Farm report: We’ve lived through some of these, um, manipulations at the hands of State Farm (“Snake Killer,” Laura Laughlin, November 16). We see these abuses every day, at the hands of many insurance companies. Consumers of my industry’s wares and members of my industry alike are made…
Saxophonist Tony Malaby trudges up the staircase to The Jazz Apartment. He spies an ashtray — a miniature ceramic toilet bowl — sitting on a table outside unit No. 4, his former domicile.”This was here when I lived here,” he says with a laugh, pointing to the knickknack. It hasn’t…
Brit PapThe Flash gets the coolest e-mails. I’m just guessing, but I believe this one had its genesis in Great Britain:To the citizens of the United States: In the light of your failure to elect a new President and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation…
It was a long week for Kim Zilisch. The Motorola accountant had spent three grueling days taking tests at the Phoenix Civic Plaza for her CPA license. On Friday night, she finally got to relax. Her fiancé, Jeff Rosinski, picked her up downtown and drove her to the inaugural concert…
The moral behind the Sunday, November 12, Mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary church was self-sacrifice.The Reverend Saúl Madrid, pastor at both Immaculate Heart and St. Anthony parishes, told his congregation the parable of a destitute woman who gave of her time and won greater favor with Jesus Christ than…
